1 Timothychapter 4
16 verses · Paul, by tradition · AD 63 to 65 · Paul's letters
For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
Introduction
Paul, by tradition, Paul's letters, 1 Timothy Overview.
Paul returns to the false teachers, now naming what they demanded. They told believers that holiness meant giving up marriage and certain foods. The first hearers lived in a world where many thought the body and its appetites stood beneath the spirit. The chapter answers that teaching from creation and then turns to Timothy himself. It tells a young leader how to answer scorn of his youth and what to give his time to. Listen for the language of training, drawn from the athletic grounds every Greek city had. Listen also for how much depends on Timothy's own life. Read it as a pastor's rule for his own soul.
Context
- Who
- Believers being told that holiness meant giving up the body
- What
- A warning against teachers who forbade marriage and certain foods, followed by Paul's counsel to Timothy on training in godliness and on his public ministry.
- Where
- The church at Ephesus, in a Greek city with a gymnasium, public games and many rival teachers.
- When
- About AD 62 to 64, after Paul's first imprisonment in Rome.
- Why
- To show that everything God created is good when received with thanksgiving, and to set Timothy's example and teaching against the error.
Historical context
The idea that matter is beneath the spirit was in the air across the Greek world. Groups of the period practiced strict diets, avoided meat, and treated celibacy as the higher road, and the teaching drifting into the Ephesian church seems to have mixed that instinct with Jewish food rules.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The chapter answers it from creation: food is God's, made to be received with thanks. Jewish households already said a blessing over bread and wine, so 'set apart by the word of God and prayer' described something the hearers did at every meal.
Bodily training was a real institution. Every Greek city of size had a gymnasium where young men exercised, and the discipline of an athlete was the standard picture of hard, unglamorous effort. Paul grants that it profits a little, and then reaches past it.
The instruction to devote himself to the public reading, to exhortation, and to teaching describes the actual shape of a meeting. Scrolls were expensive and rare, so a congregation heard Scripture read aloud by one man and explained on the spot, exactly as a synagogue did.
Significance
For hearers being shamed as second-class Christians because they married and ate meat, the chapter says the shaming itself is the error, and names its source.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For Timothy, held back by his youth, the answer is not a title but a life the church can watch, his speech, his conduct, his teaching, in front of everyone.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
In Later Times Some Will Depart From the Faith
1 Timothy 4:1-2
the Spirit expressly states: that in later times some will abandon the faith, the Greek naming a falling away from a place once held. Behind the false teachers stand deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.
1 Timothy 4:1
“But the Spirit saith - By St. Paul himself to the Thessalonians, and probably by other contemporary prophets. Expressly - As concerning a thing of great moment, and soon to be fulfilled. That in the latter times - These extend from our Lord's ascension till his coming to judgment.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Timothy 4:1
“In 2Th 2:3 (written earlier), the apostasy of the Jews from God (joining the heathen against Christianity) is the groundwork on which the prophecy rises; whereas here, in the Pastoral Epistles, the prophecy is connected with Gnostic errors, the seeds of which had already been sown in the Church [AUBERLEN] (2Ti 2:18).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
seared with a hot iron: The false teachers profess holiness while their own consciences are defiled. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set this beside 1:5, where conscience and faith go together. Matthew Henry notes that a conscience must be hardened before a man leaves the faith and draws others after him.
1 Timothy 4:2
“Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have their consciences seared as with a hot iron.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book 1patristic
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:2
“Professing to lead others to holiness, their own conscience is all the while defiled. Bad consciences always have recourse to hypocrisy. As faith and a good conscience are joined (1Ti 1:5); so hypocrisy (that is, unbelief, Mt 24:5, 51; compare Lu 12:46) and a bad conscience here.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Timothy 4:3-5
They will prohibit marriage: The false teachers prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods. Paul answers from creation, every creation of God is good, echoing Genesis 1's verdict on what God made.
1 Timothy 4:3
“Forbidding priests, monks, and nuns to marry, and commanding all men to abstain from such and such meats at such and such times. Which God hath created to be received by them that know the truth - That all meats are now clean.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Timothy 4:3
“And since the demons assist the most wicked, the Saviour came for the destruction of evil men and of the demons, but for the salvation of the good. They declare also, that marriage and generation are from Satan. Many of those, too, who belong to his school, abstain from animal food, and draw away multitudes by a reigned temperance of this kind.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Ipatristic
1 Timothy 4:3
“Forbidding to marry - That is, “They will depart from the faith through the hypocritical teaching - of those who forbid to marry;” see notes on 1Ti 4:2. This does not necessarily mean that they would prohibit marriage altogether, but that it would be a characteristic of their teaching that marriage would “be forbidden,” whether of one class of persons or many. They would “commend” and “enjoin” celibacy and virginity.”
1 Timothy 4:4
“For every creature of God is good - That is: Every creature which God has made for man’s nourishment is good for that purpose, and to be thankfully received whenever necessary for the support of human life; and nothing of that sort is at any time to be refused, ουδεν αποβλητον, rejected or despised. We find a saying very similar to this in Lucian’s Timon: Ουτοι αποβλητα εισι δωρα τα παρα Διος. The gifts which are from Jove ought not to be Despised. This appears to have been a proverbial saying among the heathens.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:4
“It has seemed to me ridiculous that any one should make a vow to abstain from swine's flesh. Be so good as to teach men to abstain from foolish vows and promises. Represent the use to be quite indifferent. No creature of God, received with thanksgiving, is to be rejected. The vow is ridiculous; the abstinence unnecessary.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Letter 199, Canon 28patristic
sanctified by the word of God and prayer: Barnes reads the word of God as His permission, so no human rule can make unholy what He has allowed. Prayer receives the gift.
1 Timothy 4:5
“For it is sanctified by the word of God - By the authority or permission of God. It would be profane or unholy if he had forbidden it; it is made holy or proper for our use by his permission, and no command of “man” can make it unholy or improper; compare Gen 1:29; Gen 9:3. And prayer - If it is partaken of with prayer. By prayer we are enabled to receive it with gratitude, and everything that we eat or drink may thus be made a means of grace.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:5
“It is sanctified by the word of God - Creating all, and giving it to man for food. And by prayer - The children of God are to pray for the sanctification of all the creatures which they use. And not only the Christians, but even the Jews, yea, the very heathens used to consecrate their table by prayer.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Train Yourself for Godliness
By pointing out these things to the brothers: , Timothy will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Nourished by the words of faith and sound instruction pictures him feeding on the truth he serves to others.
1 Timothy 4:6
Virtues and vices are the food of the soul, which can feed on either one, turning to whichever one it wants to. If it is bent toward moral excellence, it will be fed by virtue—by righteousness, temperance, meekness, endurance. In other words, it's just as St. Paul says, "being nourished by the word of truth." That's the way it was with our Lord, who said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me."
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Festal Letters 1.5patristic
1 Timothy 4:7-8
reject irreverent, silly myths: Paul returns to the myths of 1:4 and tells Timothy to train himself for godliness, using the athlete's word for training. Physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness holds promise for the present life and for the one to come.
1 Timothy 4:7
“But refuse - That is, refuse to pay attention to them, or reject them. Do not consider them of sufficient importance to occupy your time. Profane - The word here used does not mean that the fables here referred to were blasphemous or impious in their character, but that they had not the character of true religion; 2Ti 2:16.And old wives’ - Old women’s stories; or such as old women held to be important. The word is used here, as it is often with us, in the sense of silly.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:7
“But refuse profane and old wives' fables,.... Either Jewish ones, the traditions of the elders; or those of the Gnostics, concerning God, angels, and the creation of the world; or those doctrines of demons, and which forbad marriage, and commanded abstinence from meats before mentioned; which are called profane, because impious and ungodly, and old wives' fables, because foolish and impertinent; and which were to be rejected with abhorrence and contempt, in comparison of the words of faith and good doctrine.”
physical exercise is of limited value: Clarke notes that the Greeks prized their athletic training, yet its reward was short and belonged to this life alone. Godliness holds promise for both lives. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the promise as life in its truest sense, now and in the age to come.
1 Timothy 4:8
“For bodily exercise profiteth little - Προς ολιγον εστιν ωφελιμος. Those gymnastic exercises, so highly esteemed among the Greeks, are but little worth; they are but of short duration; they refer only to this life, and to the applause of men: but godliness has the promise of this life, and the life to come; it is profitable for all things; and for both time and eternity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 Timothy 4:8
“For, if it will not, it is not profit. Yes, we are sure it will. Here is another of Paul's faithful sayings, worthy of all acceptation--that all our labours and losses in the service of God and the work of religion will be abundantly recompensed, so that though we lose for Christ we shall not lose by him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Timothy 4:8
"Piety," which is the end for which thou art to "exercise thyself" (1Ti 4:7), is the essential thing: the means are secondary. having promise, &c.--Translate as Greek, "Having promise of life, that which now is, and that which is to come." "Life" in its truest and best sense now and hereafter (2Ti 1:1).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Timothy 4:8
“YOUR attention will be the more readily given to this passage, because Paul declares it to be a "faithful"—a most true and certain saying—and "worthy of all acceptation," that is to say, worthy to be received and practiced by us all. Paul has four of these faithful sayings. The first, occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The second is our text.”
1 Timothy 4:9-10
This is a trustworthy saying: This trustworthy saying, the letter's third, points to the promise of verse 8. God is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe, the scope the letter set at 2:4.
1 Timothy 4:9
“This is a faithful saying,.... A true one, and to be believed, that godliness has such promises annexed to it; see 1Pe 3:10. and worthy of all acceptation; by all godly persons, to encourage them to the exercise of godliness.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:9
“This verse (Greek), "faithful is the saying, " &c. confirms the assertion as to the "promise" attached to "godliness," 1Ti 4:8, and forms a prefatory introduction to 1Ti 4:10, which is joined to 1Ti 4:9 by "For." So 2Ti 2:11.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the Savior of everyone: Wesley and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the Savior of everyone in two senses. God preserves and provides for all people now and is willing to save them for ever, and He saves believers in full.
1 Timothy 4:10
“For therefore we both labor - This verse was necessary to explain what he had before said; and here he shows that his meaning was not that the followers of God should enjoy worldly prosperity and exemption from natural evils; for, said he, it is because we exercise ourselves to godliness that we have both labor and reproach, and we have these because we trust In the living God: but still we have mental happiness, and all that is necessary for our passage through life; for in the midst of persecutions and afflictions we have the peace of God that…”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 Timothy 4:10
“Because we trust - For this very thing the world will hate us. In the living God - Who will give us the life he has promised. Who is the saviour of all men - Preserving them in this life, and willing to save them eternally.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 Timothy 4:10
“If God is in a sense "Saviour" of unbelievers (1Ti 2:4, that is, is willing to be so everlastingly, and is temporally here their Preserver and Benefactor), much more of believers.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Timothy 4:10
“For therefore we both labour,.... Not in the word and doctrine, though they did; nor in the exercise of internal godliness, though there is a work in faith, and a labour in love; nor with their own hands, at their trades and business, to support themselves, and others; but by enduring hardships and afflictions, as stripes, imprisonment, weariness, pain, watchings, fastings, hunger, thirst, cold, and nakedness; see 2Co 11:23. And suffer reproach; with patience and cheerfulness.”
1 Timothy 4:11-12
Command and teach these things: Let no one despise your youth answers a real weakness in a young man. The remedy is a life that earns respect: an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:11
“These things command and teach - As important doctrines, and as embracing the sum of the Christian system. It follows from this, that a minister of the gospel is solemnly bound to teach that there is a sense in which God is the Saviour of all people. He is just as much bound to teach this, as he is that only those will be saved who believe.”
Let No One Look Down on Your Youth
Let no one despise your youth: Timothy had joined Paul as a youth, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count about eleven years since then. Gill notes that a man well past twenty could still be called young.
1 Timothy 4:12
But the wise servants of the Lord, who have really put on the new nature created in the likeness of God, listen to what he says. They apply to themselves the commandment given to Timothy, "Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." They keep the Easter feast so properly that even unbelievers, seeing their orderliness, must say, "God is truly with them."
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Festal Letters 2.4patristic
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:12
“To prevent this, Be a pattern in word - Public and private. In spirit - In your whole temper. In faith - When this is placed in the midst of several other Christian graces, it generally means a particular branch of it; fidelity or faithfulness.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture: Paul names three duties of the gathered church: the public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching. The reading took in apostolic letters, as Colossians 4:16 shows. Exhortation applies what was read, and teaching grounds both.
1 Timothy 4:13
“Till I come; - notes, 1Ti 3:14-15. Give attendance to reading - The word here used may refer either to public or to private reading; see Act 13:15; 2Co 3:14; compare Esdr. 9:48. The more obvious interpretation here is to refer it to private reading, or to a careful perusal of those books which would qualify him for his public work.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Timothy 4:13
OF course this counsel and exhortation is intended primarily as a direction to Christian ministers and especially to young Christian ministers. They must read much if they are to be profitable to others as preachers. There used to be a very stupid conceit in some sections of the Church, that if a minister read extensively, he would only give forth stale truth, or what some simpletons called, "dead men's brains."
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3318: “How to Read the Bible” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Do not neglect the gift that is in you: names a gift Timothy already holds, which 2 Timothy 1:6 tells him to stir up. It came through the prophecy spoken over him at the laying on of the hands of the elders.
1 Timothy 4:14
“Neglect not - They neglect it who do not exercise it to the full. The gift - Of feeding the flock, of power, and love, and sobriety. Which was given thee by prophecy - By immediate direction from God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Timothy 4:14
“Neglect not the gift that is in thee - The word χαρισμα here must refer to the gifts and graces of the Divine Spirit, which Timothy received when set apart to the work of an evangelist by the imposition of St. Paul’s hands, 2Ti 1:6, and by that of the presbytery or eldership; for it most evidently appears, from this verse and that above quoted, that he received this double imposition, not probably at different times, but on one and the same occasion.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Timothy 4:14
The apostle clearly teaches that presbyters are the same as bishops.… Writing to Titus the apostle says, "For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and appoint presbyters in every city, as I had instructed. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having believing children not accused of wantonness or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God."
Jerome · written before 420 · Letters 146.1patristic
Be diligent in these matters: Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching states the letter's balance in one line. By so doing Timothy will save both himself and those who hear him, the teacher's walk and teaching standing together.
1 Timothy 4:15
“The minister must be first his own scholar before he can be another's teacher. profiting--Greek, "progress" towards perfection in the Christian life, and especially towards the fullest realization of the ideal of a Christian minister (1Ti 4:12). may appear to all--not for thy glory, but for the winning of souls (Mt 5:16).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
1 Timothy 4:15
“If he is making prayer to the Lord, he is near heaven. If he is bending over the Scriptures, he is "wholly in them." If he is singing a psalm, he satisfies himself.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Exhortation to Chastitypatristic
1 Timothy 4:15
“True meditation is no other than faith, hope, love, joy, melted down together, as it were, by the fire of God's Holy Spirit; and offered up to God in secret. He that is wholly in these, will be little in worldly company, in other studies, in collecting books, medals, or butterflies: wherein many pastors drone away so considerable a part of their lives.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 Timothy 4:15
“Meditate upon these things - Upon the train of events by which you have been led into the ministry, and upon the responsibilites and duties of the office. Let your mind be deeply impressed with these things; make them the subject of profound and serious thought. Give thyself wholly to them - Greek “Be in them” - a phrase similar to that of Horace - “totus in illis.” The meaning is plain. He was to devote his life wholly to this work. He was to have no other grand aim of living.”
1 Timothy 4:16
“Take heed unto thyself - See that the life of God remains and the work of God prospers in thine own soul. Take heed to thy doctrine, that the matter be pure and orthodox; that thou teach nothing for truth but what God has revealed. Continue in them - i.e., In taking heed to thyself and to thy doctrine; for this must be thy continual study.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: A warning against false asceticism answered from creation, followed by Paul's counsel to Timothy, with the third trustworthy saying at verse 9, as 10 classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The third trustworthy saying | Verse 9 carries the formula this is a trustworthy saying, the third in the letter after 1:15 and 3:1. The site's published exposition of verses 9 and 10 takes the saying as the verse before it, that godliness holds promise for this life and the next.This site's published exposition of 1 Timothy 4:9 to 10, The exposition_notes row on 1 Timothy 4:9 to 10, citing Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, and John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Timothy. | 1 Timothy 1:15, 1 Timothy 3:1, 1 Timothy 4:9 |
How this chapter is built
1 more paragraph on the patterns
Verses 1 to 5 describe the false teaching, which forbade marriage and certain foods, and answer it from creation. Verses 6 to 10 contrast bodily training with training in godliness and carry the third trustworthy saying. Verses 11 to 16 turn to Timothy himself, his example, his public reading and teaching, his gift, and his care for his own life.
Keep studying
Studies9
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, The Pastoral Epistles.
The form and classifications
This site's published exposition of 1 Timothy 4:9 to 10, The exposition_notes row on 1 Timothy 4:9 to 10, citing Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, and John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Timothy.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Athanasius of Alexandria, FESTAL LETTERS 2.4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Timothy; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.